Morning times from Jerez - Wednesday

06/02/2013

Romain Grosjean heads Paul di Resta on the timesheets, but as Sergio Perez makes his McLaren debut media attention is on Mercedes after brake issue sees Lewis Hamilton crash after 15 laps.

While, unlike Barcelona, there is no official lunch break at Jerez, the teams do like to head off for some grub and an informal debrief round about 13:00.

As the second day of pre-season testing reaches the half-way point Romain Grosjean leads the way but Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are grabbing the headlines.

Hulkenberg was first out this morning, followed by Grosjean and Van der Garde, while newly signed Luiz Razia was keen to get to work in the Marussia.

At around 9:47 the session was red flagged when Hamilton went through the gravel and into the barriers at Turn 6, the Englishman having suffered a problem with the hydraulic brake line connecting to the right-rear caliper. Thankfully, the front brakes were fine and slowed him sufficiently that there was no serious damage.

However, while the team investigates further, it subsequently confirmed: "We will not run again today as work continues with the repairs required on the car".

Today's problem, of course, comes off the back of yesterday's electrical fire which sidelined teammate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton wasn't the first driver to bring out the red flags however, that dubious honour went to Daniel Ricciardo who is thought to have run out of fuel, while Luiz Razia was the cause of the day's third red flag when he stopped on the start/finish straight.

At Williams, though the car gave him his maiden win, Pastor Maldonado won’t be sorry to see the back of the FW34, the Venezuelan having completed just 7 laps.

Massa and di Resta have both completed long runs, with the Toro Rosso, in the hands of Ricciardo, continuing to impress.

Morning Times - All Times Unofficial

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